A woman who survived cancer, The Ellen Show and a YouTube hit: how Jen turned a negative into a positive

Colin Cosier

Jen O'Shea wanted to get on The Ellen DeGeneres Show so badly she made a personal secret about her body very public.

She posted a video online of her mind-boggling ability to twist her right leg at the hip to a 180 degree angle.

"To say I have above average range of motion at my hip is a bit of an understatement," she says in her video pitch for Ellen DeGeneres' Here's My Talent competition, before twisting the sole of her foot towards the ceiling.

But it's a talent that came about through unfortunate circumstances for the 28-year-old from Ontario, Canada.

O'Shea had a rare form of bone cancer called Ewing's sarcoma and in 2011 she underwent surgery for an internal hemipelvectomy where the entire right side of her pelvis was removed. The bone wasn't replaced, so while her right leg muscle still functions, it's not attached to her skeleton.

Months of physiotherapy and rehabilitation followed as she learned to walk again with the help of crutches and a frame.

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But she didn't know of her own talent until about a year after the operation when, back at work, a colleague asked her to move her foot to allow for some space at their desk.

"It was actually really shocking," she recalls of trying to move her leg out of the way and finding it twisted further than expected.

She says it does not hurt her, and it only starts to stretch when the leg twists past about 180 degrees.

Since discovering her party trick, only a handful of friends and family have known about it. But that all changed when she entered US TV star Degeneres' contest. Not only did she show off her moves on camera, she also recorded the reactions of everyone she showed her trick to.